Courthouse Butte Mar 12
Climbing high on Courthouse Butte, from the Bell Rick South trailhead
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COURTHOUSE BUTTE
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Starting out at the Bell Rock South trailhead, in two groups
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We turn off the public trail to head up the side
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Waiting for the "slow" group to catch up
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It's already getting ledgy
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We're aiming for a slot in that deep shadow
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Views of VOC are opening up below
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The first ruin
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Up the narrow slot
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WWe emerge at teh top of a spectacular cliff
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To one side, our first break spot
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This gives us a good view of the next leg of the climb
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..as well as views of both VOC and the forest road section of SR179
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I can see my place from here!
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Bell Rock
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The first group starts up...
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An early bloom of indian paintbrush
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This is the hairiest part of the climb
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It's hard to avoid this particular dead tree
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This ledge line is as high as we can get
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There is another ruin in this cave, inaccessible to us, right above the Fort Apache layer
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We make our way along as far as we can
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This is it! Ropes would be required from here.
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Liz finds some potsherds
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Familiar landmarks like Castle Rock are very different from here
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Our lunch spot, on the last open area free of ants and cactus
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Heading back, the way we came
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Down through the lower slot
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Back on the flat, we hike around the Courthouse
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Rabbit Ears
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The Little Mushroom, directly N of Courthouse
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A hidden memorial
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One last dead tree
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This fell off the south face of Courthouse, recently enough to have crushed a fence
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This much larger piece fell ages earlier
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